Yesterday, Ed’s family began the process of turning pigs into food. I had football practice, so I wasn’t able to make it. Although I didn’t want to be there when the pigs were killed, I did want to see how they began to process them, so I was a little disappointed. The pigs drained of blood overnight and today we processed and packaged them.

The pig halves in the back of the truck, waiting to be cut up.

Ed’s dad Rich give me a quick refresher on pig anatomy.

Uncle Dan, pig-butcher extraordinaire, cuts the ham off the pig.

Ed cuts the foot off of the ham and Chris wires bacon to hang in the smokehouse.

Melissa and I spent a long afternoon vacuum-sealing the meat in Mom Marie’s dining room.

Chris organized and divvied up the 3 pigs for family and for sale.

In our 3/4 of a pig, we got 4 pork roasts from various areas of the pig, 1 rack of spare ribs, 1 pork tenderloin, and 21 bone-in pork chops. We’ll also get ham, bacon and sausage when it comes back from the smokehouse. Tonight, we’re having pork chops and applesauce for supper, and the rest of the pork goes in our freezer.

8 responses to “Pork for the Year”

My grandfather was a butcher, so this fascinates me. Are they using a regular band saw to cut the meat, or is it a special peice of equipment? I’ve only seen it done at our local meat locker where he worked.

Hi AB
What a weekend, but was well worth it, hard to believe those porkchops were walking around two days ago but so nice to know where they came from. It is quite a process and the best is yet to come when we get back from Noack’s smokehouse. Great pictures, this place was hopping this weekend just like the good old days.
Enjoy!!!
Love,
Mom Marie
Good job Ed! You got right in there!